Rock_On's Full Review: Chrono Cross for PlayStation 1
INTRO:
Well my original intentions as I strolled into the Family Video doors were to rent a few movies, pay my dad’s late fine(out of MY hard earned cash), and get some Taco Bell, and then drive home. Well of course my original intentions always get stretched, as I saw a sign that said “All Playstation Games: 50 cents for 7 days.” Well, I jumped for a copy of Chrono Cross(which I had been meaning to buy/rent since I played Chrono Trigger that was bundled with Final Fantasy IV in Final Fantasy Chronicles) and found the two videos I was going to rent and went on my merry way out the door and went home(totally forgetting my dinner, so I put my stuff in my room and drove back out...and my aunt was visiting at the time and so she let me drive her corvette to get my dinner, I was a happy teen for that 30 minute drive).
Anyway, anyone who’s heard of/played Chrono Trigger probably have heard/experienced the epic storyline, fun battle system, multiple endings(about 18 or so), and other good things about the game. Then Square releases the awaited sequel in 1999 called Chrono Cross. What did I think of it? Lets see...
PLOT/STORY:
I was pleasantly surprised when Chrono Cross starts of with Serge(pronounced “Ser-gay” I think, although I call him “Surge” as in the drink) is having a bad dream, and when he wakes up he’s late for a “date” with his girlfriend. This is a lot like how Chrono Trigger starts; boy sleeps in and he’s suppose to meet girlfriend but it late because he was sleeping.
When you go to collect dragon scales for a necklace requested by Leena(your girlfriend) and you meet Leena at the beach after you’ve found her dragon scales, a huge wave of water knocks you out and when you wake up, you’re in another world that is the future, where ten years ago you died as a boy from that wave and no one knows who you are.
Then you meet a girl named Kid(hmm she looks familiar...), and you start off after the Blue Flame, which should explain why Serge is dead in this world and alive in the other world. Well to top it all off, Lynxx, a cat-like person who is the cause of all this is after Serge for some reason, but why?
Sound confusing? Well it is, and for some people they probably won’t grasp onto the story until the end of the game. It took me a little while to comprehend the story, and by the time I finished the game I pretty much had it under my belt.
GAME PLAY: Chrono Cross is another good RPG by Square, at least to me it is. It’s not as good as Final Fantasy VII or Final Fantasy X, or even its predecessor Chrono Trigger, although some people prefer CC over those. Either way, you continue on your quest to figure out who you really are, and you must travel to different locations either on foot or by some kind of vehicle.
You go from place to place on the world map, and it’s like FF VII‘s where the city’s and stuff are tiny and you have to go up to them and press a button to go into the actual city. I’m sure a lot of people who are reading this have played the game already so you’ll know what I’m talking about. But for those who don’t, I think I explained it sort of good enough for you to comprehend.
Anyway, as you explore different cities and a variety of “dungeon” like areas, you’ll do little puzzles(sometimes), but the majority of the time is spent finding a way out and fighting battles along the way. Instead of random battles like the Final Fantasy series, you can see the enemies on-screen, therefore allowing you to strategically decide your move, fight or not fight. But sometimes you could spend a whole bunch of time deciding how to avoid a certain monster, when you’ll end up fighting them anyway. A lot of battles can be skipped, but sometimes an enemy will be blocking the way of somewhere you need to go, and so avoiding the battle is impossible. Like Chrono Trigger, battles are turn based, but UNLIKE Chrono Trigger, you go into battles in a different scene(like Final Fantasy VII, you don’t fight right where you are, instead you go into a battle scene that’s completely different than the area you’re in). I would have much rather had the battles like Chrono Trigger, but oh well.
When you go into battle, you’ve got 4 choices to choose for each character; attack, element, defend, and Run Away like a scaredy cat. Unlike other RPGs I’ve played, instead of seeing your character attack an enemy with their equipped weapon you have three different options of attack; weak, medium, or Heavy attacks. Each number has a percentage next to them which stand for the hit ratio(or the chance that the attack will hit); weak being the weakest attack but will most often hit all the time, medium being a good amount of damage that’s not too heavy but not to weak, and heavy being the hardest hitting attack although it’s got the least chance of hitting every time. Each of the attacks is numbered 1, 2, 3... ` weak, 2 medium, and 3 heavy.
In order to perform these attacks, you have to have enough status points, which is 7 for each character. Each number attack takes away that many status points, for example you could use 2 heavy attacks, and then a weak attack(3+3=6+1=7). It’s actually really simple, most of the battles I’ll use heavy, heavy, and then an element to finish off that character’s turn.
Speaking of elements, they are the equivalent o the magic and are used a lot like the Materia system in FFVII, only they don’t take away stats. Each character has a different attribute color(Green, Black, Blue), and each one is weak to the opposite color(Black vs. White). Each element has its own color attribute, and if you use that color attribute on an enemy with the opposite color you do more/critical damage. You can equip elements to different characters on different levels. What I mean by levels are you have 3 or 4 at the start of the game and when you equip elements to a level 1 block, then it won’t be as strong. But if you equip to the highest level you can, it’ll do more damage. So in other words, the higher the level, the more damage is dealt(makes perfect sense now).
The elements can be confusing at first and it may take a while to understand the system, but once you understand how they work, you’ll be busting out damage like it’s nothing.
As you continue on your adventure, you’ll meet tons and tons of people, and a lot of them will join your party for certain reasons, while some join the party for no reason at all and so there’s no use in using them. In all, there are about 40 playable characters, however there are only 3 of them that will interest you any; Serge(duh), Glenn, and Kid. The only players I use through the whole game is Serge, Glenn, Kid, and a sumo wrestler guy named Greco(I switch Greco and kid in and out since you can only use 3 party members at a time).
GRAPHICS:
Considering that Chrono Cross released on the Playstation in 1999, the graphics are actually really nice. Right now, the graphics aren’t very good, but back in 1999 they were very nice. The backgrounds are pre-rendered and have little to no interaction between characters and the backgrounds, however they are a lot better looking than one of Square’s earlier releases on the Playstation; Final Fantasy VII. The graphics are nice and colorful in places that need be, but then when you’re in places like a dark forest, there are lots of uses of darker colors.
The in-game graphics are kind of rough, and a lot of times items on the ground are missed because they actually blend in and look like they’re part of the environment itself. There are a few FMVs throughout the game and they are smooth for the most part, but most of the FMVs just include each character standing and looking at something or some other boring thing like that. NOTHING like Final Fantasy X‘s FMVs though(but that’s expected, the PS2 is about 10 steps above the regular PS).
CONTROL: Chrono Cross is an RPG, so there’s not too many controls you have to use. Aside from running/walking from area to area, the only other control you’ll use is the “X” button as you skip through tons and tons of boring dialogue. Other times you’ll be guiding your way through various menus and battle menus. For the most part, the menus are easily navigatable...however it may take a while to fully understand how to equip and use the elements effectively.
SOUND:
There is no fancy smancy voice acting, but there is plenty of boring dialogue boxes to read and *shudder* enjoy. But the music is awesome. The theme song is my second favorite theme in a game that I’ve played(next to the rock theme to Final Fantasy X‘s in the opening Blitzball scene, oh boy I loved that).
The music varies from place to place, such as certain towns will have cheery themes, while a “dungeon” will sound a little more darker. Most of the music will get annoying after the first couple hours, especially in Termina(reminds me of Majora’s Mask).
Rocky’s Corner: Chrono Cross is a great RPG to play and with the multitude of characters and long story, it should give you a good 30-40 hours of game play. However if you just speed through it without doing side quests or finding all the characters like me, then you should be watching the end FMV and watching the credits in under 30 hours(took me about 26, but I went straight through it).
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